As is well known, a shutter mechanism is a device that uncovers and re-covers an aperture to briefly admit the passage of light through the aperture and usually onto unexposed film in a camera.
One type of shutter mechanism that is well known has a pair of shutter blades supported for pivotal opening movement in opposite opening directions away from one another to uncover an aperture to permit ambient light to pass through the aperture and for pivotal closing movement in return closing directions towards one another to re-cover the aperture. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,721,995 issued Feb. 24, 1998, No. 5,255,037 issued Oct. 19, 1993, No. 4,114,175 issued Sep. 12, 1978, No. 3,474,716 issued Oct. 28, 1969 and No. 3,319,554 issued May 16, 1967. A complex movement-linking device often interlocks the shutter blades for shutter opening and shutter closing and to prevent them from being pivoted simultaneously in the same direction. If the shutter blades were allowed to be pivoted simultaneously in the same direction, accidental shutter opening might result when a physical shock to the shutter blades is applied to the shutter blades in the same direction as the opening direction of one of the shutter blades. The physical shock possibly occurs when a camera with the shutter mechanism is dropped onto a hard surface.
Problem
In inexpensive cameras, there is a desire to eliminate the movement-linking mechanism to avoid its expense. However, there is still a preference to prevent accidental shutter opening due to a physical shock such as possibly occurring when the camera is dropped onto a hard surface.
The Cross-Referenced Application
The cross-referenced application discloses a camera comprising an aperture through which ambient light is passed to cause a film exposure, a shutter blade pivotable open to uncover the aperture to permit ambient light to pass through the aperture and pivotable closed to re-cover the aperture and susceptible of being moved accidentally due to mechanical shock such as when the camera is dropped or jarred, and a shutter actuator movable to pivot the shutter blade open to uncover the aperture, is characterized in that a blocking device is positioned within a blocking range of the shutter blade to block the shutter blade from being pivoted open to uncover the aperture when the shutter blade is moved accidentally due to mechanical shock, and the shutter blade is supported to be moved out of the blocking range of the blocking device when the shutter actuator is moved to pivot the shutter blade open to uncover the aperture.